Former Baptist preacher George Crossley was once convicted of trying to hire a hit man

George Crossley, a conservative preacher from Central Florida who gained national attention after he was convicted of trying to hire a hit man to kill the husband of his former lover in the 1990s, has died.

Crossley, 69, who worked more recently as a radio talk-show host, collapsed at WEUS-810 AM station in Altamonte Springs Wednesday evening. He was rushed to South Seminole Hospital in Longwood where he later died.

Friends and colleagues learned of his death Thursday as news outlets reported his passing.

"He was a true believer and actually cared about helping out people that most of civil high society goes out of their way to avoid," said friend T.J. McCarthy. "He was a real Christian and believed in helping those who really needed it."

McCarthy recently completed a 79-minute documentary about Crossley's life. The two worked closely for over a year on the project and became close friends, he said. Filming began in 2008 on the day that Crossley's wife of 42-years, Agnes, died.

Crossley often said his wife was the source of inspiration for activism and encouraged him to become a union organizer in the 60s.

"They were together more than 40 years and she was closer to him than anyone else and meant more to him than anyone else," McCarthy said. The couple never had children.

McCarthy was attending a homeless feeding at Lake Eola Wednesday evening when he heard Crossley fell ill and was hospitalized. He learned of his passing when contacted by an Orlando Sentinel reporter.

The owner of the radio station where Crossley hosted a two-hour talk show, sent a note to employees Thursday morning announcing his death.

"George was described last night on his show as an ICON. I only knew him for a short period of time but I will remember him as long as I live as a man who loved what he was doing, helping others who were disadvantaged and would not stand down from a fight," station owner Carl Como said in a message to employees obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

Crossley, who was once the leader of the American Civil Liberties Union's Central Florida chapter, hosted The People Power Revolution show alongside co-host and producer John Hamilton.

Crossley was an outspoken evangelical Christian preacher in the 1970s who expanded his repertoire in the 1980s to include a radio and television ministry. He was a conservative who called for bans on strip clubs, controversial art exhibits, sex education and movies.

But in 1996, he had an affair with a married woman and tried to hire a hit man to kill his lover's husband. The "hit man" was actually an undercover federal agent. Crossley was arrested a day later. He was convicted of that crime and served 40 months in prison.

Crossley was released from prison in 2001, and walked out of the prison with a new outlook that was the opposite of his former conservative self.

He started CopWatch, a civilian group that sought to monitor police behavior regarding the civil rights of suspects. Around that time, he lost his job as a pizza deliveryman after he was accused of threatening a co-worker.

In 2005, Crossley was named the leader of the Central Florida chapter of the ACLU. During his leadership, the group fought against Orlando's restriction on feeding the homeless in city parks.

But in 2008, he was ousted as the head of the local chapter, along with the board of directors that supported him, because he was viewed as a loose cannon who repeatedly overstepped his authority.

Former Leesburg City Commissioner Bob Lovell co-hosted a conservative talk show called In Defense of Liberty with Crossley back in the early 1980s. The show aired on WIYE-Channel 55 in Leesburg and blended religious fundamentalism with small talk by Crossley.

Eventually, Lovell said he considered Crossley more of a radical than a conservative and Lovell decided to leave the show.

"George had a proclivity to alienate some people," said Lovell, who said Thursday that he hadn't seen or spoken to Crossley in many years. "You can be with somebody politically, but not with their methods."

Despite their philosophical differences, Lovell said, "George did a lot of good things. The last years of his life he apparently advocated for the homeless…I think George wanted to do good. He honestly tried to do good."